Sunday, November 09, 2008

There it was in broad daylight, or instant replay, the net was off the peg and you could see the yellow peg and Sam and Joe couldn't understand why the Rangers were complaining about Tom Poti's goal. Heck, anytime Poti scores it's suspect. The rule is clear. If the net is off the pegs it's no goal. But they allowed it and then I remembered this is the new Washington and there is change in the air. The claim was that the net was not completely off. Then there was Alexander Semin running Lundqvist, who was in the crease, and there was no call. I guess Lundqvist hasn't reached the status of Martin Brodeur who draws penalties by getting menacing looks.

So early on it was evident that the Rangers would have to contend with more than six Washington players. What was disturbing, but not unexpected, about Lundqvist being run is that there was not one Ranger player, other than Lundqvist, who even looked at Semin. Forget enforcer, forget policeman, how about protecting your goalie? But since the end of the lockout and the new coaching regime that is in place, sticking up for a teammate is not in the clueless ones playbook. But how do you not stand up for your goalie? You do when defense is your mantra. You do when you have a team that is not offensive, not aggressive, is in fact passive.

So now we have a team, since its early out of the gate spurt, is playing .500 hockey. What is so surprising? There is no team toughness, no team system, no team concept. Thank God, can I still say that, we have Henrik Lundqvist, at least until someone runs him out of the NHL.

12
comments:

Pretty disappointing show by the players on the ice in not going after Semin, doesn't matter if you win. I would much rather they went for him than run the goalie Johnson, but when getting your goalie run is okey-dokey, I guess you're not doing anything anyway.

I hope we don't have to get used to this wimpy behaviour, but then again nobody helped the Z Man out the other night either, so I guess turning the other cheek at all costs is the way of the day for NYR. Nice job by the referees. Remember when they wore their names on the back? At least then you could call them incompetent (or worse) by name.

Orr and Donald Brashear were talking like something might happen, but nothing did. Orr has had three fights so far this year (2 wins and a draw). Last year he had 18 fights, his 3rd on Nov. 15th. So he's a little ahead of last year's pace.

Other players have to step up and protect Lundqvist. Last November 25th Shanahan went after Steve Ott. And last March even Drury stepped in against Petteri Nokelainento of Boston to protect a teammate. So this team will have to step up and look out for The Prince. He's their ticket to the big show.

This latest game just adds more fuel to the fire that the NHL is against the Rangers. Lundqvist gets barreled over twice and nothing is called. The nets is clearly off its moorings and the goal is counted. Voros gets mauled by the Tampa Bay goalie and gets a 5 minute penalty. Zherdev gets manhandled by 3 guys on the ice and 2 on the bench and he gets sent to the box... is there anyone looking at these horrible calls at the league office?

NHL (well, let's say North American in general) hockey can be as intricate as you want to make it, but there are some basics that never change.You don't let people skate around free and clear after they run your goalie, period. Instead, you make a bad situation better by raining down whatever punishment you can. You don't wait for a nod of okay from anyone.Waiting for the refs to do it gets you, well, where does it get you? Even if they did call something, you won't get respect from the opposition.

The Ranger Pundit

I'm Mike Savino, the Ranger Pundit. I have been a NY Rangers fan since the 1937 - 1938 season. The first game I saw in person was in 1943 against the Blackhawks. My biggest disappointment was the '49-50 season and our loss to the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup finals.